Domaine Patrick Javillier

The Javilliers have been involved in the wine business for generations as courtiers. When Patrick started out in 1974 this was the main source of his income, alongside which he worked three hectares of vineyards. In 1990 he was able to give up being a courtier as the domaine was by then large enough and well enough established. There are some red vineyards though his wife’s family, but the core of the domaine is white.

Patrick Javillier is now one of Meursault's best growers. An electrical engineer by training, he later studied oenology in Dijon before taking over his father's small Meursault estate. He gradually expanded the vineyard holdings to over 9 hectares and has been estate bottling his wines since 1990.

Patrick is one of the most reflective of white wine makers, the walls of his cellars and the sides of his barrels being covered in chalk where he has been developing one or another of his theories. He is absolutely persuaded that long élévage on the lees is essential for the future development of the wine in bottle, so he uses a Vaslin press for his whites because it keeps more of the solids than a pneumatic press. Most of the wines are taken out of barrel after a year, then matured further in tank on their fine lees. The Corton Charlemagne spends a second winter in wood. It would be difficult to find another winemaker with quite such a perfectionist attitude as Javillier, a man who approaches winemaking with the precision of a research scientist, yet is always ready to question his own success. The results are startling, more so given that he has only one tiny Premier Cru holding. Not only does he vinify parcel by parcel but also cask by cask before making the final assemblages.

The Bourgogne Blancs are vinified as crus and have all the character of real Meursaults. The Clos from the upper slopes are steely and firm, while the beautifully balanced Tillets, Casse-têtes and Clos du Cromins have a delightful touch of honey. Javillier's Narvaux wines derive part of their noble breeding from Perrières, their next-door neighbours.

Interestingly, the top wines such as the Corton-Charlemagne are fermented and matured entirely in one year old wood, with new barrels being used (25-30%) for the Meursault and Bourgogne vineyards on the lower slopes with more clay and less active limestone in the soil. Patrick favours Damy as a cooper with a selection of wood from the Allier, Vosges and Nevers forests to provide a balance of styles.

Patrick Javillier also makes Berrys' Meursault from purchased grapes under the name of Guyot-Javillier.

Lovely, pure, fine colour, this is much more elegant than Patrick’s Les Forgets cuvée. It is a wine of grace and definition, but still with suitable flesh. Really fine balance, the 2014 is terrific. Very persistent indeed.Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

This is Javillier’s flagship cuvée of generic burgundy, bottled in October. It has an impressively fresh nose, with good weight of white and yellow fruit on the palate. Middleweight, lively acidity, very attractive.Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Patrick chose to begin early around 26 September in order to pick while the grapes were still healthy, the relatively high acidity encouraged him to stir the lees a little more than usual and the wines were racked into tank just before the new harvest, apart from the Corton-Charlemagne which is back in barrel.

Patrick Javillier has crafted a superbly balanced Meursault in 2015, using grapes from the top, middle and bottom of the hillside. This delicious white Burgundy displays a classy, fresh-fruit nose, with beautifully rounded fruit on the palate, with ripe yet fresh yellow-plum notes. This is a very classical Meursault, with a pure long finish.Jasper Morris MW - Wine Buyer

A lovely pale primrose, this has an exuberant, classy nose, floral but with weight. No new wood was used. Lively fruit, some orange blossom and nectarine, with good wood behind, fills out the palate, and the acidity is in check. A medium-term Meursault on excellent form. Drink 2016-2020.Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Patrick chose to begin early around 26 September in order to pick while the grapes were still healthy, the relatively high acidity encouraged him to stir the lees a little more than usual and the wines were racked into tank just before the new harvest, apart from the Corton-Charlemagne which is back in barrel.t form.

Displaying some yellow plum fruit with a fresh floral component, this is full on the palate with nicely judged oak, a generous second half and a long finish. It is a fuller, richer style of Meursault, and is very good indeed.Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director

Patrick began the harvest on 23rd August, evidently an exceptionally early date, but he notes that the wines taste as if picked a month later. They are very expressive of terroir differences, as exemplified by the contrasting Clos du Cromin and Tillets cuvées. There are few growers as skilled in the cellar as Patrick is, and it shows in the quality of this fine range of 2011s. Jasper Morris MW’s award-winning classic volume ‘Inside Burgundy’ is now available as a series of beautifully designed, interactive, Multi- Touch eBooks for the iPad and iPad Mini.

Inside Burgundy: The Côte de Beaune is the first volume is available for £14.99 on the Apple iBookStore. It is accompanied by the first edition of an innovative new Annual Report on Burgundy by Jasper Morris. Inside Burgundy The Annual Report 2012/13 is downloadable for free

Javillier’s top Meursault, again blending two sites for the perfect clay-limestone mix. Clear, bright colour, restrained and perfectly balanced, lovely fresh pear notes, filling the back of the palate beautifully, with fruit and acidity and oak all in balance. Very long indeed.Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Patrick chose to begin early around 26 September in order to pick while the grapes were still healthy, the relatively high acidity encouraged him to stir the lees a little more than usual and the wines were racked into tank just before the new harvest, apart from the Corton-Charlemagne which is back in barrel.

The wine from Patrick’s south-facing Corton-Charlemagne vineyard is matured in one year old barrels to avoid any overt new wood effect. The fruit has great energy here, some greengage character, real intensity through the middle, stony intensity behind, and lovely finish.Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Patrick chose to begin early around 26 September in order to pick while the grapes were still healthy, the relatively high acidity encouraged him to stir the lees a little more than usual and the wines were racked into tank just before the new harvest, apart from the Corton-Charlemagne which is back in barrel.

Patrick crafts this cuve from grapes blended from two vineyards, one from the hillside and one from the lower slopes, which combine to make a fullbodied yet stylish Meursault with an impressively handsome texture. Representing the best that the village of Meursault has to offer, this will mature well.

The nose is very closed in its youth but nevertheless it is a very fine example of this Grand Cru with a steely intensity, a bevy of dancing minerals and real power at the back of the palate – as well as a very long finish.

Patrick Javilliers south-facing holding of Corton-Charlemagne never has any trouble in ripening sufficiently to make superb wine. This Corton- Charlemagne is a rich, powerful, fleshy wine with an all-important mineral core lying just under the surface which will be revealed over the years to come.

This Meursault wine from Javillier has a most beguiling nose, reminiscent of lime blossom, just what's wanted in 2009. Medium bodied with the typical rounded Meursault mouth feel, but also with a pure fresh minerality owing to the hillside site. It’s just coming into its own, but with three or more years ahead.Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Patrick Javillier's 2009 Burgundy wines taste even better at this stage than his brilliant 2007s did. Lovely wines, esp. his Meursault Les Clousots, which he has bottled relatively early to preserve the freshness of the fruit.Fine Wine Team

Ripe and rounded with some plums in the fruit mix, Patrick Javillier’s complex lees-infused style and the character of this vintage go together very well, producing a wine with an excellent finish.Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

The most concentrated of the Javillier Meursaults, Cuvée Tête de Murger exhibits splendid poise between weight and minerality. Layers of flavour spread across the palate and the result is truly impressive.

There are green tints to the wine’s fine, bright colour. This is very tightly wound, an exceptionally concentrated Meursault with bones of steel, yet ample flesh which will emerge with maturity. This will be brilliant.

Patrick likes the freshness and purity of 2014, with nothing that hints at vulgarity. He compares the vintage to 2002 and the best of 2004. Elegance is the hallmark of 2014 but there is good body too, with the wines coming in at or just over 13 percent alcohol. The wines were bottled in the autumn.